The Lone Survivor
by Feb Love
Summary: The untold story of Ilse Langner, a member of Survey Corps, who dedicated her life as one of the humanity's hope until her last breath.


**The Lone Survivor**

This is not yet my last day. I still have things to do. I have to wash my clothes when I get back to Karanes. I have to cook for the idiotic friends of mine who stayed at my place. For sure, if they prepare for themselves, they will destroy my kitchen.

This not yet the end. I have to report to the lieutenant. If I fail, he will surely punish me and I know how sadistic he is.

A member of the Scouting Legion like me does not know how to give up. We will continue our duty even on the verge of death.

I sighed. ''The noise of silence is killing me.''

Chirp of birds. Wind singing. I am walking along an endless road. Endless because it seems I am jogging forever. I have been walking and running for a couple of hours but still there is no sign of Wall Maria. I want to get back immediately. I run quickly. Turning my heads left and right, activating all my senses, and observing very carefully. I need to be active if I still want to live.

I might encounter a Titan any minute.

Another hour have passed still I can see nothing but trees. I am already exhausted. I have no food and my water bottle is drained. Where can I get enough energy to continue my marathon?

With my shaking knees, I stopped by under a big tree. I made sure that no titans could see me. When I turned left, I noticed a big hole there. Big enough to fit the size of human. I entered, hid myself inside the big tree. I folded my knees, wrapped my arms around my legs, and closed my eyes. Just ten minutes of rest is enough for me to go on. I have to be at home before dawn.

And before I knew it, I was already falling asleep. I yawned. ''It _ish_ a _sho_ tiring day,'' even I, myself, did not understand what I murmured.

The last thing I knew, before losing my consciousness, was the spiral red-colored wheel in the darker than black's background…

''…_what are you doing?'' a voice resounded. _

_That was a woman's voice. What did she say? I opened my eyes to check who is who. I scratched my head there when I saw no one around. Only I could see a garden. This place is familiar to me. I think I have already visited here sometime. I stroked my chin and think._

_There is a scene in my mind though it is pixilated. _

_Aha! I knew it. I can finally recall it. This is the garden that somebody—wait, somebody? I stamped my foot on the ground. This is bad. I cannot remember who gave me this garden. _

''_Run!''_

_Like the camera lens' focus, my eyes roamed to find whose voice it was. My vision stopped. I saw a longhaired brunette woman running and, at her back, an oversized creature that looks like a human without clothes. Then I wondered why… the gigantic creature has no genitalia. _

''_Go away!'' the woman shouted._

''_Why?!'' I shouted back._

_The woman did not answer back. She kept on dodging the grasp of the naked person without genitalia. I looked at her intently and I extended my hand to help her but I could not. It is as if she is just within my reach but she is so far from my place. She was saying something and gesturing something on me._

''_Ilse, run! Run!''_

_The moment she called my name that rings the bell. It was getting clear that the woman running and the voice I heard, belongs to none other than my mother! And the massive creature, trying to catch her like a frog in the rice field is…. over there is a Titan!_

_The realization was as if a bat just hit my head—my mother is being chased by a Titan!_

_I looked up and saw the titan, wearing a murderous smile. What I am facing is a real ruthless cannibal. Later, it will devour me. It scares the hell out of me. Suddenly, I trembled. _

_But… my mother is out there, running for her life. What am I going to do? I am scared! I am so scared I could not move one foot._

_With one last shout of my mom, my eyeballs flew where she is. _

_I held my breath. I sat on the ground. I gripped the grass beside me. And witnessed the Titan caught my mother's right leg. My eyes widened._

''_No! Stop!'' Tears burst out of my eyes. I let out a long roar when the Titan grasped my mother until all her bones crushed. _

_I felt like dying. Is there another way to save her? I really want to save her. But when the Titan stared at me with the terrifying face, I suddenly realize it is too, too late for me to go forward. I cleared my mind despite of what I am feeling. I ran away, leaving my mother. I do not want to be the Titan's next lunch. I am selfish, right? Because I left my mother. But that is the best thing to do now. _

_Forget everything. Just survive. _

_While running I cannot stop crying. Mucus is starting to fall down my nose. ''God, why did not you…'' I snuffled. ''Why did not you save my mother?!''_

''_Why?'' I screamed at the top of my lungs. _

_I looked back. My eyes widened more when the man-eater pierced the belly of my mother. It bit the flesh and the intestine started to hang there, like a thread. The Titan put the body of my mom inside its mouth and began eating her like the chicken's drumstick. That gave me even more horror. I want to vomit._

_Then suddenly… my sight turns black. I cannot see anything. Where am I?_

''_I thought Mr. Langner was the humanity's hope. But what did he do? He let himself die in the hands of the Titans!''_

''_Your father was a failure.''_

''_He just used the people for his own good! Good thing he died!''_

_Huh? What is up with these voices? Are they bashing on my deceased father?_

_Well, I do not give a damn. I would not be like him. He was a failure but not me. I will be a major instrument for the humanity's victory against Titans._

''_Ilse.''_

_Someone called._

''_Ilse.''_

_Then a spotlight—no, it is getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Until it spread all over. What now? A moment ago, my whole world was covered with black. And now? It is all white! _

_What is happening?_

''_Promise me you will not die. You will pass these messages to our commander,'' the man handed me a notebook._

_Johan? _

_He is one of my comrades. He is lying on the ground and smiling up at me. What is the problem of this man?_

''_Huh? What are you saying? Pass this yourself. '' _

_He shook his head. And took my hand. He placed my hand at his tummy. I felt a slimy thing. I checked it._

_I screamed._

_What I am holding is Johan's exposed liver in half!_

_I suddenly felt the ground shaking. It was stamp of feet. It seems that the force of the feet is getting near me. Particularly at my back. Then, it stopped. I felt someone's dominating presence. It is disturbing me. _

_I slowly stood up. With my knees shaking. And in one last move, I big hand wrapped around my waist. I shout, asking for help._

_I knew this was going to happen. A Titan, I am in its grip. _

''_No,'' I said calmly._

_But as my body comes near in its mouth…_

''_No!'' I shrieked. _

_My head is inside its mouth. I can smell the stinky breath. _

_Suddenly, I felt the Titan's teeth, slowly biting my head off my neck and it is too painful. _

_I heard the blood squirted from my neck. My eyeballs turned white. Sore!_

''_No!''_

''No! Aw!'' my head hit on something.

And that was when I realized that I am inside a big tree. And that I was just dreaming a bad dream. I touched my cheeks. I am crying. I wiped all my tears but it kept falling. I wiped and wiped until my cheeks turned red. What is up with me? I am just dreaming.

I snuffled. Letting all my tears to fall down until my eyes are drained. My past is haunting me. My dead my mother, my dead father, all of the dead that had been closed to me.

And not twenty-four hours have passed, I lost all my comrades. Titans devoured them before my eyes. I saw how Titans cut the thighs of my friends, drew blood on their faces, and—

Suddenly, I felt like vomiting.

''Go to hell, Titans!'' I screamed.

The scenes, hours ago, filled my head. It is killing me, it is making me crazy. I want to erase my memories. Only bad memories are stored in my head.

Until I stopped crying. I do not know how many minutes I have been crying. I let myself think. I let myself freed from any nightmare. I set my mind at rest.

I have to be strong. When I face a titan later, I would not let my emotions fill me. I will control it and find a way to get back to Karanes. Johan and the others protected me and let me survive until the end. They gave me… this…

In my pocket, I pulled out a notebook and a pen. My comrades' last wishes are to get back to Karanes, alive. They wanted me to hand the notebook, which has all the information we gathered about Titans while we were in the expedition, to give it to the commander. And they want me to continue writing on the notebook. I will write all what I am sensing now.

I checked if Titans are out before releasing myself inside the big tree. When I saw none, I started walking. Then jogging. Then running. It is almost dawn. I have to run faster.

''There are no Titans this time. I might encounter one or two in the next five hundred meters. I have to be very careful,'' I wrote.

Why am I saying it aloud? To calm myself. Nervousness struck me.

Kwak! A sound echoed. Followed by the gust of the wind.

''Wah!''

I stumbled on the ground. I immediately turned around. A Titan? A Titan?

''My weak heart got scared easily,'' I wrote what I said.

Then, I suddenly felt the ground shaking. It was stamp of feet. It seems that the force of the feet is getting near me. Particularly at my back—wait, I think this had happened to me, right?

The stamping, it stopped. I felt someone's dominating presence. It is disturbing me.

I felt it really happened to me! I slowly stood up. With my knees shaking—this happened in my dream!

Alas, a déjà vu!

I knew what is going to happen! Without second thought, I ran back as fast as I can. Then the ground began shaking again because of Titan's stamp. I dodged its grasp.

I looked back to check the Titan, then I screamed because it nearly caught me.

''A-a t-three-meter class Titan is chasing after me right now, and I-I am scared my mucus is coming out my nose. It is disgusting I know, I know,'' I turned the next page. ''It is fast and all I can do is dodge it. Oh, my god! This is getting harder and harder!''

I stopped to write for a while and ran faster. ''Wah!''

Then, I started writing again. ''Its flesh is rotten and it stinks. I recommend all of you to put facemask before getting near to a Tita~aan! Ah!''

Thank you God it did not catch me. That was strike two, I cannot take this anymore!

And in one last move, I big hand wrapped around my waist. I wrote it down. With my tears falling. Because I know…

This is my last minutes.

I knew this was going to happen. That is why I became a soldier. I am ready to die.

''N-now, I am in its grasp. Any time it will eat me. The Titan's skin is smooth, slimy, and stinky,'' I cried once more. ''The grip is not firm but it is not loose, sure someone cannot escape. Just wait your turn to go up it heaven. What I mean is when you are,'' I cried. ''I-in T-titans g-grip. Prepare yourself to die, accept everything. Unless you have with you your 3D maneuver and your blade, you can fight. But in my case, I am weaponless. So, you know what is next,'' In writing these it took me four pages.

Then I noticed, what is the problem of the Titan? It is not eating me. Still in its hand, I looked up.

It is looking down at me.

''Y-Ymir-sama.''

My eyes widened. It spoke!

''It spoke! And it said 'sama' whatever, I did not understand but it spoke!''

I am surprised. Why not be? This is the first time I ever heard a Titan talk because we, the soldiers of humanity, knew that Titans just growl nothing more.

In my case, I witnessed, it spoke!

''What did you say?'' I asked it.

The Titan went berserk, it filled me with dread. I wrote what I am witnessing.

I spitted out bad word. For at least in my last minute, I did something bad. I can smell my own funeral. Funeral at Titan's belly.

''The Titan is going to swallow me.''

I have prepared myself. There is no need to regret something. There is no need to say goodbye.

As my body comes near in its mouth, I prepared myself to write the last thing I need to write… Not a little bit longer, my head is already inside its mouth.

'' I can smell the stinky breath,'' I wrote and said hurriedly.

Suddenly, I felt the Titan's teeth, slowly biting my head off my neck and it is too painful.

I heard the blood squirted from my neck. Then, the Titan stopped biting. The pain became unbearable to the point of my eyeballs turning white.

''_Promise me you will not die…''_

Johan's words…

''N-no… I do not want to die—''

**The End**


End file.
